Originally posted by NemeBro
Is the anime not the original canon of Pokemon?
No.
Although Ash was based from Red,
Ash is in no way, shape or form, as good as Red was/is.
Ash is more like his retarded cousin.
Red has been displayed as more cocky than Ash, and has a better winning streak than Ash.
(he defeated the Indigo League, captured Mewtwo... Ash lost to Ritchie)
Add to the fact that Red has a Pikachu so strong that it can affect Rock and Ground-types, and even stall Mewtwo and Deoxys for a brief amount of time.
(Irc, Ash's underpowered Pikachu only defeated Brock's Onix with PIS [water sprinklers going off]... Pika literally electrified Onix without the water sprinklers in the manga)
And Red didn't have any sidekicks in his journey.
I'd also note that the storylines between the anime, the games, and the manga are not exactly related, although they do borrow ideas from each other.